And we're off! - Day 1

Ok, here I am, going strong on the 30-day blog challenge. Today's topic?

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts.

Ok, well, I pretty much feel like yesterday's blog was an adequate introduction to this bit. so....CHECK!

(see i told you they should have given me credit for Day 0)

ok, what's next? Recent picture of yourself. well, this is about as recent as you can get.



I just got done playing softball and drinking celebratory beers. No, we didn't win, in fact, this was our worse season since we started back in '05, but tonight's game was a lot of fun.

ok, recent picture? CHECK!

15 interesting facts.

about me?

ugh. That's pushing it, I'm not sure I can handle that. Let's go half and half. Tonight I'll share credit with this site on fun facts.

Ok, in no particular order.

1. I used to be afraid of trains. Afraid as in I was convinced that a train was going to deliver my ultimate demise. We lived less than a block away from the train tracks and my super sonic hearing could hear a train whistle at least 8 miles away. My fear was cured when they taught me about the caboose. Why don't trains have cabooses anymore?
2. Hippo milk is pink. I adore hippos.
3. Just before the US started bombing Baghdad, nearly $1 billion dollars was stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq and is now the largest bank robbery in history. Also, right before the US started bombing Baghdad, I was in Las Vegas getting ready to board a Southwest Airlines flight back to KC with my friends Alison and Cindy. United Airlines canceled our original flight and I haven't flown them since.
4. I made my national tv debut on January 2, 2004 during K-State's loss to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. This is also the same weekend that I figured out how to ask for the beer garden in Spanish, “Donde esta jardin de cerveza?”
5. Scientists aren't sure what color dinosaurs were.
6. Up until about 2nd grade when I had my tonsils taken out, I was convinced onions gave me strep throat. If I ever have children there’s a high likelihood half of them will be mini-hypochondriacs.
7. I love daydreaming.
8. Back in 2004/5 I invented a game called "Yassar or a Cow." It's wildly unpopular, but I love it. Basically, you ask people who they would rather be in a situation with......Yassar Arafat or a cow. At Katie and Todd's wedding, Kristin's husband Matt asked me who I would have liked to brought as a date. I said, "Oh, I wasn't given plus guest." (like that was my only deterrent...taking dates to weddings is like a babysitting job you don't get paid for). To which Matt replied, "Yeah, but if you could, would you have brought Yassar?" "Yes, absolutely." Kristin, being the dark cloud that rains on my parade said, "Yeah, his dead moldy corpse would have been a lot of fun." me: "Uhhh, yeah, Weekend at Bernie's 1 and Weekend at Bernie's 2."
9. More than ten people a year are killed by vending machines.
10. I'm a sucker for tv shows that let you download music from each episode. FOX and NBC saw me coming from a mile away.
11. The zip code 12345 is assigned to General Electric in Schenectady, New York.
12. I dressed as Steven Q. Eurkle for Halloween in the 2^nd or 3^rd grade. Now-a-days it probably would have been racially insensitve for a little white girl to do that, but my impression of his laugh and signature phrase “Did I do that?” was so spot on I think it made it ok. I won first place in the costume contest at school.
13. There are more plastic flamingos in the US than real ones. 40 of them are in my brother Brian's shed.
14. The oldest patented company logo is the red triangle of Bass beers.
15. The KC star linked to my blog in an article that talked about Betty White. I'm credible if nothing else, right?

Well, I don't know about you readers, but I feel informed and entertained now. You're welcome.

15 interesting facts...CHECK!

Tales from the car lot: entry 1

As you 14 followers know, I'm in the market for a new (to me) car. After some research on the world wide web and pep talks from everyone in my family and a few co-workers, I decided to go to a dealership in Olathe that had a car I was interested in. Everyone told me: "Have fun." "Just go take some for a test drive." "No pressure."

Not gonna lie, it wasn't fun. And I'm really only finding the humor in it 2 days later.

I pull into the car lot that is roughly the same size as my hometown, and only find the new car section of Avengers. I get out and take a look, even though I have no intentions of buying a brand new car. I'm then approached by Derek, a big, black, 51-year old car salesman that opens with: "Is anybody helping you find the car of your dreams?"

I foolishly answered, "no" and so begins the most ridiculous 27 minutes of my life.

I explain that I had found an '08 Avenger online that I wanted to check out. He drives me over to the used car area and we soon discover said car is parked where the newly "sold" vehicles get parked.

But wait! Derek has an idea. There is an '09 model in gold, barf, that is only $2K more. No way in hell this is happening, but I'm here, I might as well take it for a test drive, right? It takes him a good 7 minutes to track down the keys to the car. We get in, and drive on a frontage road and back around to the lot for a grand total of ohhhh ......... about 4 minutes. In that 4 minutes, he asks me when my birthday is, I tell him the month and day and he says, "Oh, you're a pisces too?!"

I'm sorry, what 50 year old man knows his zodiac sign and proceeds to outline the characteristics of the sign??!?!

Keep in mind, at no point did he point out one feature of the car, not even the vanity mirrors!

So we pull back in to the dealership, I put it in park, and he asks, "So do you like it."

Again, I foolishly answer in a half-hearted, "yeah," because I didn't feel prepared enough to outline what I didn't like about this car, I just knew I didn't want it.

"Great, why don't we go inside and talk numbers."

I think that's a little aggressive and fear this is going to end awkwardly, but hope I'm wrong. I sit down and in what i can only assume is a sales tactic, he takes 5 minutes to come back in, lays a form in front of me and says, "Start filling this out and I'll be right back."

"Whoa, there big fella." (ok I didn't say big fella) "I'm not buying the car today."

"Whaaaaaaaaat?? Are you playing me guuuurl? What's the problem? You said you loved this car and you want to buy it. Was it something I said? Is my hair not combed? Do I stink?"

"Uhhh no, you asked me if I liked it. Not if I was going to buy it."

He then spends the next 6 or so minutes trying to convince me that I am the world's biggest idiot for not taking advantage of this great deal.

And the icing on the cake, wait for it....

wait for it...

As I stand up to leave he says, "You know, I can't guarantee I won't sell this car before Monday while you're thinking about it."

"You know what Derek, I would hate to keep you from doing your job, so you do what you gotta do. If you sell it then I guess it wasn't meant to be."

Jackwagon.

I didn't get to turn on the stereo, roll down a window, open the built in cooler, or set the damn cruise control. Do people really buy cars that quickly and with that little of thought?

Lesson learned. I'm not going car shopping again by myself. At the very least I'm taking a girlfriend in a low cut top to distract the goon's attention so that I can actually look at a car.

Any readers who know where I can find a great deal on a Dodge Avenger, V6, ABS, lower milage, lower cost, not gold or red, let me know.

Isn't ironic, don't you think?

Alanis Morissette had a smash hit back in the day called "Ironic" where she lists off a lot of things that are bummers, but not really ironic incidences.

Here's a story in irony.

Yesterday, I was sideswiped by a risk management officer talking on his cell phone while driving. It was definitely very scary, but I'm ok. The ole Dodge Status has looked better, right now I think only body damage. We are currently waiting prognosis and finding her a good plastic surgeon.

Since my guardian angels kept me safe yesterday I feel it's only fitting that I be honest as to what really upset me yesterday. When the accident happen, I was on my way home from DQ, I had gotten a new mini blizzard and 4 piece chicken strip basket. By time I got home the blizzard was melted and the hot food was gross and cold. It reminded me of the story Mom and Dad use to tell about my older sister Kim. She fell down the stairs once (not really surprising for either one of us) and screamed and cried bloody murder. Mom and Dad race downstair to make sure she's ok and ask what hurts and she finally tells them she's upset because she broke her cookie.

It was definitely a broken cookie moment.